CompositionsOpera“Enemies, a Love Story”A work-in-progress based on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novel of the same name. It tells the story of Herman Broder, a Polish Jew and survivor of Nazi persecution, living in New York in 1949. It is both a farcical, romantic comedy of a man juggling three women, and a dark story chronicling the legacy of the Holocaust. “Enemies” was made into a successful feature film in 1989, directed by Paul Mazursky. Choral Music“Dear Theo”This piece, for SATB chorus, is a setting of selected passages from the letters of Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo. Arranged in a kind of mosaic, they express major emotional themes that run throughout the correspondence, telling a deeply human story of an artist struggling against poverty, illness, societal expectations, and his own volatile personality. Through several melodies woven together, they also emphasize the poignant fact that Vincent would never know the tremendous value and influence his art would eventually acquire. “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”Set to W.B. Yeats’ celebrated poem and originally written for solo tenor voice and piano, this version, for SATB chorus and piano, was created for Hamilton College’s ‘College Hill Singers.’ The words express a deep longing for peace and spiritual fulfillment. Yeats had apparently lived near a lake in Ireland that contained an island called Innisfree which he longed to visit. He also had read Thoreau’s Walden and was deeply affected by its notion of self-realization through a connection to nature – a definite theme in the poem. Chamber Music“The House on Kronenstrasse”A multi-media piece for piano, viola, clarinet and an actress created in collaboration with the author Shira Nayman. The piece consists of short movements interspersed and at times underscoring text from the first story in Nayman’s collection entitled “Awake in the Dark.” Dealing with the legacy of the Holocaust, the text and music trace the emotional journey of a woman who returns to Germany in search of her past. Musical theatre pieces“Henry and Company”Music and lyrics by Ben Moore Developed for and in collaboration with the renowned Metropolitan Opera tenor, Jerry Hadley, Henry and Company is an exciting and touching musical theatre piece loosely based on an idea by Mr. Hadley. “Henry,” an intimate 4-character musical, was presented as a staged reading to great acclaim in July of 2002 at the Appalachian Summer Music Festival in North Carolina (starring Mr. Hadley and Tony-nominee Barbara Walsh). It tells the story of Henry Smith, a hugely successful novelist who has returned to his hometown of Centerville. By re-entering the world of his youth, he is unwittingly forced to confront the demons of his past. In the course of ninety intermissionless minutes, underscored by soaring, tuneful music and acerbic, compelling text, a series of dramatic confrontations cause past and present to intersect. Henry and Company explores, in song, the unspoken ties of love and friendship that tightly bind together four people over a twenty-five year period. “Bye Bye Broadway”Music by Ben Moore This show is a farcical, fast-paced, backstage comedy with five characters. Set in 1938, it tells the story of a small but dauntless theatre troupe about to open a musical based on Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca - until they are scooped by another Rebecca production. They switch shows, only to have another production beat them to opening night. They have to switch again. And again. The musical was commissioned by the Drayton Festival Theatre in Canada, an Equity 400-seat theater. It played to sold-out houses and rave reviews for fifty performances in the summer of 1999. Stratford’s Beacon Herald called the piece “the most refreshing bit of entertainment this observer has seen in a very long time.” “The Bone Chandelier”Music by Ben Moore This gender-bending story of love and revenge is set in a mysterious middle-European country and is filled with glittering waltzes, flashing swords, passionate arias, and people who are not what they appear. The Bone Chandelier received its first reading at the Broadway Theatre Institute in New York on May 12, 2003. The show is in the ‘fantasy’ genre in the tradition of Tolkien and ‘Harry Potter’ but with many modern and subversive overtones. Ellen Kushner is one of the country’s leading authors of fantasy novels (Swordspoint and The Fall of the Kings) and brings her limitless imagination to this piece. She is well known to classical radio listeners as the host of the NPR show “Sound and Spirit.” Selected cabaret and theater songs(Lyrics are by Ben Moore unless otherwise noted)
Selected Classical Songs
In the Dark Pinewood (text James Joyce) So Free Am I - seven settings of poems by women:
I. Mutta (text anonymous songs of Buddhist nuns) Opera Parodies
Wagner Roles |
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